It Was the Best of Dorms, It Was the Worst of Dorms
by Air-Quiet-Reader
Summary: There was a lot of things Izuku liked about living in the school dorms. Having fun with friends. Getting to experience new things. And most of all, spending more time with Uraraka. But there were some parts of the living situation that came to irritate him. A lack of privacy foremost among them.


Izuku's life had become a maelstrom of eccentric teenage antics, partying and a variety explosive outbursts. But he wouldn't have it any other way.

It had certainly taken getting used to living under the same roof as all of his classmates. The situation was foreign to all of them and navigating the various pitfalls of communal living had taken all of his brain power to manage.

There were the basic aspects that came easily enough; splitting up chores, sharing space and cooking for himself (or his classmates on a couple of occasions). It was challenging but he found the mundane task delegation fairly straightforward.

But dealing with all of the clashes of personality was a different matter entirely. He was having to interact with his classmates with even more regularity, each posing their own unique social challenge. It was one thing to be with someone in a classroom all day and then be able to retreat to home. It was another to have no escape from those people, spending every waking moment with them day in, day out.

This naturally led to quite a lot of heat and hijinks throughout the dorms as everyone got adjusted to one another. Kacchan was far more irritable than usual, forced to spend more time surrounded by the many people he despised. Arguments would break out on occasion over chores, space or some stupid comment while Iida desperately flailed trying to reestablish order. Pranks wars were waged, to which he had been the unwitting victim of on more than one occasion. The boys had to stage a life-saving intervention after Mineta struck out on his own in a panty raid after being flatly rejected for a group effort.

But Izuku had grown to appreciate the chaos and the good that came out of it. Despite the many challenges, living alongside his..his friends was surprisingly enjoyable after all the nights of his childhood spent alone in his room. Which he still did a fair amount of, but not as much now that there were the opportunities for nightly movies, games, bake-offs or something insane Mina cooked up.

"Hey, what you get for question twenty-four?" the voice of his best friend, Uraraka, penetrated his thoughts with ease. He snapped to attention at her question.

"Fifteen," Izuku replied simply as he tried to retain his focus back on his homework. The pair were studying together late in the common room, mercifully quiet at this late hour. Izuku had taken to studying in the wide-open space when most others turned in for the night. Uraraka had ended up joining him regularly as a study-buddy. Another perk of dorm life.

"Thanks," she replied cheerily, before breaking out into a wide yawn. There was a comfortable silence between them on nights like this, other than exchanges of help on homework. It had also taken getting used to — a part of his brain still short-circuited at the fact that he was studying with a girl. Who was so _close_. A girl he happened to like. A lot. As a friend, of course.

Living with Uraraka posed its own particularly confusing challenges for the boy. Like the rest of his class, he got to spend a lot more time with her, which was great. She was his best friend and every minute with her was absolutely precious.

But she confounded him like none of the others. Seeing her around the dorms had sent his heart springing into backflips on more than one occasion. When he first saw her in pink pyjamas he thought he was going to melt into a puddle on the floor from how adorable she looked. Those feelings were tricky to handle with all of the other things he was struggling to balance.

However, despite how everything around him was pandemonium, he could always lean on the quiet moments with his best friend. They had become good study buddies and the added presence on his homework nights had brought him a surprising amount of peace.

Izuku yawned, stretching out on the common room couch and digging into it the cushions in pursuit of more comfort. He stuck his nose in his book and tried to focus on the questions again. But his thoughts kept wandering. It was all so exhausting...

"Am I losing you, Deku?"

"..Wha?" Izuku lifted his out of his nose out of his book so have his vision filled with Uraraka's adorable visage. She was...close. Too close.

"You getting sleepy?"

"No...no!" Izuku stammered before retreating his head further into the cushions. His face felt too warm. "Just...just taking a break is all."

"Well, heroics was pretty tough today," Uraraka noted, cheeks looking just a little redder around the edges. She returned back to her books spreads out across the table. "Want to turn it in early?"

"Maybe, but let me just get through these last few questions," Izuku said determinedly, summoning forth a little more energy. He had a schedule to keep; he didn't want to have to go to bed before finishing.

"That's just like you Deku," Uraraka spoke with fondness. "Alright, we'll get through this!" she pumped a fist in the air with the fiery enthusiasm that Izuku adored. But her posture fell as she looked back down at her homework. "Somehow…."

Izuku chuckled at her oscillating emotion. "Definitely. Let me know if you need any more help."

"Will do," she replied, silence wrapping around them once more.

After a few minutes, he noticed Ochako started to fidget a lot, a look of discomfort and….nervousness?...stretching across her face. Not a look he liked.

"You okay there?" he asked, causing Ochako to pause for a moment.

"Oh, I'm…" she interrupted herself with a wide yawn, followed by rumbling groan. "It's a little uncomfortable down here at this point and number 29 is really annoying."

"Well, why don't you come sit up here then?" Izuku immediately shuffled his legs and got into a sitting position, moving his notes to make more room on the couch.

"It's…." Ochako sounded unsure, but as she looked up at him she interrupted herself. He wasn't sure why but he noticed a strange sparkle in her eyes. And her cheeks looked...really _rosy_. "...Alright, sure."

She moved up tepidly, bringing her notebook with her to show the question and scratch her head.

"Oh yeah, that one is a little tricky, but if you just…" Izuku began before gently guiding her to the answer.

For Izuku, studying alongside her had become one of the best parts of dorm life. Not even a year ago, he could hardly imagine having a friend he could be so comfortable with.

The quiet air of the room filled his ears once more. Nought but the creak of the couch and the scurrying sound of pencils on papers disturbed him. These were the nights of his new life that he treasured. Peace, solace and friendship.

He felt his breathing start to slow and the world started to blur. All was well. Life was good. He should get some rest. Work could wait...for a few minutes….

* * *

There was a gentle, cosy feeling wrapped tightly around Izuku. It was bizarre and alien, but it felt so good he hardly cared. Unperturbed, he wrapped an arm around whatever was in front of him and pulled it closer.

Distantly, he could hear a few titters out beyond the darkness. They were starting to get annoying but he tried his best to ignore them. He didn't want to leave this feeling to investigate. This was nice. He wanted to sleep a little bit longer.

There was the familiar sound of electric whirring and the snap of a cell phone camera. The sounds mixed with the giggles, gathering into a cacophony of irritating music. Fed up with the noise, Izuku finally opened his eyes, prepared to tell his roommates to quiet down.

His initial thought when he regained his vision — and saw almost half the class huddled together in front of him with cellphones out — was that he was in some kind of crazy dream. Or perhaps, more aptly, a nightmare.

But as his mind started to reboot, Izuku started to notice all the little tells that this was reality. His homework, strewn on the floor. The familiar, soft couch cushions beneath his back. Uraraka, dozing peacefully on top of him. Her body was warm and he instinctively squeezed an arm around her to bring her closer.

His brain took another moment to process the information. As soon as it did, most of the blood in his body surged upward into his head

"WHA-?! You! This isn't what it looked like! I don't...Uraraka, wake up!" Unfortunately, his words could not keep up with his mind as he tried to explain his way out of the situation. His face felt like it was burning and he was sure it must have looked like a volcano.

His classmates just stood and laughed at his misfortune.

"Wow Midoriya, I didn't think you had it in you," Kaminari commented snidely.

"You two sure are moving fast," Tsuyu said.

"Aaaah my OTP is coming to fruition right before my eyes!" squealed the disembodied voice of Tooru.

"I am so putting this up on Facebook," Mina cackled with delight as she snapped photos continually with her phone.

"No wait, please don't!" Izuku protested desperately, head still spinning from the boiling water he found himself in.

"Mmm...morning Deku…" Uraraka finally stirred from beside Izuku. Her ability to sleep that heavy was astonishing to him. "What do you want to do…"

Uraraka peeked over Izuku to see the laughing faces of all of her classmates. She soon found herself reacting much the same way Izuku had — although slightly more vocal.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Uraraka shouted before bringing her hands to cover her face and floating off of Izuku. The class laughed at the comedic sight while Izuku was left floundering to try and gather his belongings.

In that moment, he wondered if there was anything worse in the world than dorm life.

* * *

AN: Written for IzuOcha Week Day 4: Dorm Life.

Over the halfway mark, but I have big plans for the back half of this. Hope you have all been enjoying it so far. =)


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